Lock washer and method for making same



Dec. 16, 1941.

E. JORDAN E AL 2,266,555

LOCK WASHER AND METHOD FOR MAKINQ SAME Patented Dec. 16, 1941 LOCK WASHER- AND METHOD FOR MAKING SAME Ernst Jordan,

Steinhorst,

by Margarethe Steinhorst, executrix,

assignors, by direct and mesne as- Germany,

signments, to Karl A.

8 Claims. (Cl. 10-86) The present application relates to a new look washer and a method for producing same, more particularly to lock washers having'a plurality of radially inwardly or outwardly extending teeth or flaps.

Lock washers of the typeset forth above have been proposed before. The flaps-were made to partly overlap one another. This was accomplished by either applying a squeezing pressure to the middle portion of the flaps and thereby broadening the flaps or by reducing the original diameter of the washers by a suitable contracting operation. With the former process the extent of overlapping is usually very small and a great pressure must be applied for obtaining the desired squeezing or stamping effect. The latter method makes it necessary to completely stamp out every individual ring or washer before producing the flaps; this makes the manufacturing process complicated and expensive and is a great disadvantage.

According to the present invention lock washers of the type set forth are continuously produced from a strip of material and sufiicient overlapping is obtained with comparatively little pressure. The swaging pressure is applied not to the center of the flaps but to lateral portions of the flaps whereby excess pressure from above is applied near one lateral end of a flap and excess pressure from below near the other lateral end of said fiap. The flaps are thereforenot so much squeezed but are bent or twisted. Whereas with the known stamping or squeezing process the flaps are weakened, with the process according to the present invention the stability of the individual flaps is increased. No matter whether the teeth of the lock washers, according to the present invention, extend radially outward or inward from a solid ring, the washers are produced in a continuous process from a continuous strip of metal.

It is advantageous to leave a." spot connection between the washer and the material from which it is made until the finished washer-is finally pushed out of said material. Stamping and pushing out cannot be done in one process step because the stamping is done between a stamp and a matrix. Incase the flaps project towards the center of the washer, connection of two points of the circumference of the washer ring'with the material from which it is made is sufiicient in most cases. In case of washers with outwardly projecting teeth or flaps, a point of the outer rim of two flaps is left connected with the raw material. More points may be left connected in case of larger washers.

Because of the continuous production process a plurality of washers can be made simultaneously from the same strip of material in one and the same process step. Twenty and more of the Hamburg, Germany, and Wilhelm deceased, late of Leipzig, Germany,

Leipzig,

Mayr, New York, N. Y.

Application April 28, 1939, Serial No. 270,568 In Germany April 29, I938 smallertype of washers can be made at the same time.- The present process is therefore extraordinarily economical.

Further and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the'accompanying specification and claims and shown in the drawing which, by way of illustration, show what we now consider to be a preferred embodiment of our invention.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a top view of a strip of metal from which the lock washers are produced showing the individual phases of the manufacturing process according to the present invention.

Figure 2 is a top view of a strip of metal from which the lock washers are produced showing the individual phases of a modified manufacturingprocess according to the present invention.

Figure 3 is a top view of a finished lock washer according to the present invention.

Figure 4 is a large scale inside view of a section of a lock washer according to'the' present invention.-

Like parts are designated by like numerals in all figures of the drawing.

The first step, I, of producing a lock washer according to the present invention is to punch out the holes I of the lock washers to be produced from a strip of metal 2. The next step, II, to make the cuts 3 which extend substantially radially from the opening I so that fiaps 4 are produced. The next step, III, consists of applying pressure on top of one lateral portion 5 of the flaps 4 in the direction of arrow 5' in'Figure 4, and from underneath to the other lateral portion 6 of the flaps in the direction of arrow 6. The flaps are thereby bent and, if desired, by applying greater pressure swaged so that the flap material is laterally permanently expanded and, depending on the swaging pressure, a desired extent of overlapping is obtained. The pressure needed for making the material flow laterally and overlap the adjacent flap is, with the method according to the present invention, lower than with the known methods'whereby pressure is applied to the center of the fiaps. The application of swaging pressure exerted near the sides of the flaps makes the material flow and expand much easier than the application of pressure at or close to the center of the flaps. The swaging operation may be applied to only one lateral portion of the flaps or to both side portions. During the next following process step, IV, the lock Washer is almost completely punched out of material 2;

' this step is carried out by means of a stamp and The shape of the; individual flaps is apparent from Figure 4.

In Figure 1 a part of a strip of metal is shown on which the simultaneous operations for simultaneously producing a plurality of lock washers take place in rows extending across the strip of material 2.

Figure 2 shows a strip of material in which always like operations take place simultaneously in a row extending in the direction of movement of the material 2.

The pattern of Figure 2 may be combined with that in Figure 1 and a great number of lock washers may be produced simultaneously.

In Figure 2 the production of lock washers is illustrated having teeth or flaps which project outwardly in contradistinction to washers having teeth or flaps which extend towards the center as illustrated in Figures 1, 3 and 4. In case of lock washers as per Figure 2 the bending and swaging operation III includes severing of the washer from the work material 2 except for a plurality of spots 1 at which the washer is temporarily held to the material; at the next step IV the washer is finally severed and pushed out of material 2.

While we believe the above described embodiments of our invention to be preferred embodiments, we wish it to be understood that we do not desire to be limited to the exact details of design and construction shown and described, for obvious modifications will occur to a person skilled in the art.

We claim:

1. A look washer comprising a solid ring portion and a plurality of flap members substantially radially extending therefrom, said flap members sure in opposite direction to the portions of the being twisted and having lateral portions of reduced thickness overlapping one another, anda central portion of substantially unreduced thickness.

2. The method of making lock washers from a continuous piece of sheet metal, comprising the steps of punching the openings of said washers into the sheet metal, of making cuts in said sheet metal which cuts are substantially radially positioned with respect to said opening, of applying a swaging pressure in opposite direction to different portions of the metal adjacent to said cuts to effect turning of the metal between the cuts, and of thinning out the metal adjacent to the cuts to effect overlapping of the adjacent portions of the metal adjacent to said cuts.

3. The method of making lock washers, from a continuous piece of sheet metal comprising the steps of punching the openings of said washers into the sheet metal, of making cuts in said sheet metal which cuts are substantially radially positioned with respect to said opening, of applying a swaging pressure in opposite direction to the portions of the metal adjacent to said cuts to effect overlapping of the adjacent portions of the metal adjacent to said cuts, of pressing the washer partly out of said sheet metal and leaving it thereby connected, at a plurality of spots on its outer circumference, with said sheet metal, and finally pushing the finished washer out of said sheet metal thereby severing the connecting spots left at the preceding step.

4. The method of making lock washers, from a continuous piece of sheet metal comprising the steps of punching the openings of said washers metal adjacent to said cuts to effect overlapping of the adjacent portions of the metal adjacent to said cuts, and of simultaneously pressing the washer partly out of said sheet metal and leaving it thereby connected, at a plurality of spots on its outer circumference, with said sheet metal, and finally pushing the finished washer out of said sheet metal thereby severing the connecting spots left at the preceding step.

.5. The method of simultaneously making lock washers from a continuous strip of sheet metal in continuous operation, said method comprising the steps of punching the openings of said washers into the sheet metal, of making cuts in said sheet metal which cuts are substantially radially positioned with respect to said opening, of applying pressure in opposite direction to difierent parts of the metal adjacent to said cuts to effect warping of the metal portion between said cuts. and of expanding the metal adjacent said cuts and in a direction transverse to said cuts to effect overlapping of the portions of the metal adjacent to said cuts.

6. The method of making lock washers from a continuous strip of sheet metal in continuous operation, said method comprising the steps of punching the openings of said washers into the sheet metal, of making cuts in said sheet metal which cuts are substantially radially positioned with respect to said opening, of applying pressure in opposite direction to parts of the metal adjacent to said cuts to effect warping of the metal portion between said cuts, of pressing the washer with its warped portions p r ly Out O said sheet metal and leaving it thereby connected, at a plurality of spots on its outer circumference, with said sheet metal, and then punching the finished washer out of said sheet metal thereby severing the connecting spots left at the preceding step.

7. The method of making lock washers from a continuous strip of sheet metal in continuous operation, said method comprising the steps of punching the openings of said washers into the sheet metal, of making cuts in said sheet metal substantially radially positioned with respect to said opening to produce prong portions between said cuts, and of applying pressure in opposite direction individually to the lateral portions of the prong portions between the center thereof and said cuts to effect warping of the metal portions between said cuts.

8. The method of simultaneously making a plurality of lock washers from a continuous strip of sheet metal in continuous operation, said method comprising the steps of punching the openings of said washers into the sheet metal, of making cuts in said sheet metal substantially radially positioned with respect to said opening,

, and of individually applyin pressure in opposite direction to difierent individual and separate portions of the metal adjacent to said cuts to effect warping of the metal portions between said cuts.

ERNST JORDAN. MARGARETHE STEINHORS'I, Executrizc of the Estate of Wilhelm Steinh-orst,

Deceased. 

